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V: Unrest
Marc I woke up late as usual. Even when I sleep early, I can never get out of bed in time to do anything productive. That is a habit that I have to change. But I can change it anytime I like. I exited my room to find Drake and Xena asleep pretty close to each other. I was not sure if a one night stand happened, but having considered the circumstances, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. There was grocery shopping that had to be done, and since I was the only one awake, I decided to do it myself. I left our apartment, ran down a flight of stairs, and walked to the supermarket. Drake and I decided that we would be better off without a car, since New Yorkers walk everywhere. Sometimes, I wish we had decided to get one anyway. Walking sucks. Now, New York has never been easy to travel through, but these last few weeks have been much worse than usual. Riots are more and more common now for some reason. I could not figure out why it was happening. You’d think that everyone would be happy after surviving a war that could have made us extinct. When I arrived at the supermarket, there was a giant crowd that was impossible to get through. People were pushing and shoving off of each other. It was chaos. I tried to muscle my way through, but no one would budge. Turned out, there was one person standing on the roof of the supermarket who was about to make a speech. He already had a sound system prepared. “Oh no, not another one of these rallies,” I thought to myself. The man started speaking. “Welcome to our rally my brothers and sisters. For too long, we’ve allowed our lives to be controlled by outside forces. First, we allowed to robots to do so. Now, we’re making the same mistake by allowing the Avatar to do so!” I was shocked. Xena was a hero. Why would so many people hate her? “We are strong, independent people. We don’t need some program disguised as a human to tell us what to do. Down with the Avatar! Freedom belongs to the people!” After he yelled that, the entire crowd erupted with applause. I couldn’t even hear myself think. There were always rebel groups like this ever since the war started. Since the robots killed almost all world leaders, many governments collapsed. Most of the time, the groups were small and insignificant, but it looked like that had changed. Now that the robots were through, the various groups must have gained more followers. I had to warn Xena about this. I quickly ran away from the crowd, and back to our apartment. Unfortunately, I wasn’t looking where I was going, and I ran into a young women. She fell down hard. “I am so sorry. I didn’t see you there,” I apologized. I offered a hand to help her up. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. I’ve been hit much harder in the past,” she replied. She got up by herself. This lady was stunning. She had fierce purple eyes, and jet black hair. Her skin tone was a little pale. I immediately lost 50 IQ points. “So, uh, are you new to this part of town?” I asked nervously. “Yes, but that’s not important. I’m looking for someone,” she replied dryly. “I can help you find that person if you want.” “That won’t be necessary.” “Really I can. I used to be a detective.” I was never a detective. I think she saw straight through that lie. “Look, you’re wasting my time. I need to find Xena,” she said, clearly irritated. “Wait, you’re looking for Xena? I know her!” I exclaimed. “Really now? You know Xena Modom, the current avatar?” she asked suspiciously. “Of course. I ran into her the other night. She didn’t look so good though.” “That must’ve been the same night she ran off. Alright, maybe you can help me. Take me to her.” “Of course ma’am.” “Don’t call me that.” “Sorry ma’am.” I heard her sigh, but I didn’t lose confidence. I may have acted like an idiot during my first impression, but no girl stood a chance against the swag of Marc Stone. Xena I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door too hard. I was too tired to get up and open it. “Come in! The door’s probably open!” I shouted. Next thing I knew, the door swung open, and it crashed against the wall. I thought someone broke it off its hinges. Drake and I immediately snapped out of our morning daze. Marc started to walk into the room, but someone quickly pushed him out of the way. It was Amber! “Xena! I was so worried about you!” she cried. She ran over and hugged me, and I hugged her back. It was so good to see her again. I was afraid that I had hurt her when I left her on that cliff edge by herself. Feeling her in my embrace was a magical experience. Marc was recovering from the (apparently hard) shove he received from Amber. “I ran into her on my way back from the supermarket. I led her back here.” Drake was not pleased. “Marc, what have I told you about bringing people I don’t know into the apartment?” “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do. She was looking for Xena and I . . . I’m sorry,” Marc said sadly. “Boys, please. There’s no need to be hostile,” Amber said lightly. She stood up and shook both their hands. “My name is Amber Skye. It’s nice to formally meet both of you.” “My name is Drake, and as you already know, this is my brother Marc,” Drake said. “We’ve been taking care of Xena after she was shot. It looks like she’s recovering nicely.” Amber’s face looked terrified. “She was shot?!” “Yes Amber, I got shot in the spine. I’m healing fine, but I can’t use my avatar powers right now. Actually, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to use them again,” I said regretfully. Everyone in the room looked shocked. “Then I guess it’s a bad time to tell you this, but you have to know. The rebel groups that formed during the war have become more powerful. I just saw a huge rally earlier,” Marc said sadly. Amber shot him a look. “You mean to tell me they’re actually gaining support?” Marc nodded. “I’m afraid so. I guess that’s what happens when there is no government to fix things. The people want to lead themselves, and they don’t want the Avatar to boss them around.” “But that’s bullshit. The Avatar saved all of us from extinction. Those people don’t know what they want,” Drake growled. I stood up. “Well, if we’re going to do something about this, we better get started right now. I may have lost my powers, but I’m still the same person. I’ll need all of your help though.” Drake and Marc both nodded. “It felt like we were obligated to help you out the moment we met you,” Drake said kindly. “Yeah, what he said,” Marc blurted out. “The old K.R.E.W. may be gone, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t follow their example. We can be the new team that will bring back balance to the world,” Amber exclaimed. I smiled and nodded in agreement. “Then let’s go to where the action is. We have to find the source of this problem.” Next time on 13th Redux... Category:Chapters